Kyo Maclear and Julie Morstad are together again to bring us the beautiful non-fiction picture book It Began with a Page, a story about authorstrator Gyo Fujikawa, a Japanese-American writer and illustrator who broke barriers in the publishing world standing up for equal pay and her belief that all children, regardless of gender or race, should see themselves reflected in picture books.

Maclear and Morstad take us through Gyo Fujikawa’s life starting as a small child and with a blank page.  Gyo Fujikawa drew everyday, starting with a blank white page. She imagined a world filled with colour and whimsy.  She lived through many hardships, feeling almost invisible in school, the Japanese internment during World War II and being a single woman in the male dominated publishing industry but through it all Gyo never lost her love of art and her willingness to fill blank white spaces with colour and joy.  She was an original PANK (professional aunt, no kids) and doted on her niece and nephews, always making time for them at her studio.

Kyo Maclear and Julie Morstad treat the telling of Gyo Fujikawa’s story with such great care and admiration.  You can tell from the illustrations and the words that both author and illustrator feel a strong connection to this incredible artist who paved the way for all children to see themselves reflected in the stories they were read and read themselves.  Tundra designer John Martz along with illustrator Julie Morstad contrast the hardships faced by Fujikawa by using black and white illustrations with the happy times, all depicted in beautiful colour. The reader can get a visceral sense of how affecting the trials were and how buoyant and vibrant the triumphs.

Babies was the first picture book to feature white children alongside children of colour and little girls and little boys doing things not typically featured in children’s literature of the time.  She was a trailblazer and it’s so important to have these stories of courageous trailblazers to show our young readers how far we have come and how far we still have yet to go. We can share these stories to encourage the next generation of trailblazers to make the world a safer more inclusive place for everybody.  We need more diverse Canadian children’s literature. We need stories written by and about the experiences of underrepresented voices. The industry is beginning to change but that change is not happening fast enough. It is so important we get these stories into the hands of children who desperately need them.